Knitted fabric



1944- w. A. SAUSSAMAN ETAL 2,361,152

KNITTED FABRI C Filed Nov. 27, 1943 IN VEN TORS JEREM/Af/ 15E BAUSHEA ByWAL TERA. 54055/1 M/J/V A770 EV Patented Oct. 24, 1944 UNITED STATES PATKNITTED FABRIC Application November 27, 1943, Serial No. 511,900

(Cl. 66ll72) 7 Claims.

The present invention relates to the art of knitting and has for anobject thereof a novel method of knitting and the novel knitted fabricand article of knitting resulting therefrom. It is a further object ofthis invention to provide a fabric in which the body portion thereof isornamented with raised stitches of walewise extending wrap threads, theindividual ornamental raised stitches of the wrap threads being largerthan the corresponding individual stitches of the body portion of thefabric.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription of the invention taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

Figure l is a view of a stocking embodying the invention,

Figure 2 is an enlarged stitch diagram of a part of the ornamented topof the stocking shown in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a modification of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Figure 2,

Figure 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Figure 2 and Figure 6 is a sectionon line 6-6 of Figure 3.

In Figure 1 is shown a stocking having the foot portion I, the legportion 8 and the top portion 9. The top 9 when mad of rib fabric isjoined in the usual manner to the leg 8, of plain fabric, along the linel0, known in the art as the transfer line. The present invention is notlimited to rib fabric but includes plain or jersey fabric within itsscope and accordingly the top 9 may also be made of plain fabric inwhich event there will be no transfer line In in the stocking, as iswell understood in the art.

The top 9, shown for illustrative purposes, has the sections ll, l2 and.I3, of which the sections H and iii are not ornamented and of which thesection 12 is ornamented with raised hollow diamond shaped figures. Itis obvious that the ornamentation may assume any other desiredconfiguration. In the section 13 of the top there is showndiagrammatically a garter portion IS in the area of which the fabric ofthe top is contracted in diameter due to the tension of the elastic yarnforming the garter. The sections H and I3 are knit of the usual textileyarn,

In Figure 2 is shown a stitch diagram of three wales and five courses ofrib fabric comprising a small portion of the ornamented section 12 ofthe top 9. The outside or plain wale is shown at l6 and the inside orrib wales are shown at H and It, the fabric itself being knit of theyarn l9 and the wale I6 being ornamented with the walewise extendingwrap yarn 20, which by either knitting 0r floating, as in course it,determines the pattern, as is well understood. On adjacent plain wales,in the section it, there are other wra yarns similar to yarn fill eachof which either knit or float as the design requires. The wrap yarnsWare of the usual textile character and may be cotton, wool, rayon orsilk and are relatively inelastic as that term is known in the art ascompared to those yarns which are elastic such as those which are madeof natural or artificial rubber or of other synthetic or naturalmaterials having the characteristics which are similar to those ofrubber. The yarn Ill-l forming the base fabric of the section i2 is ofan elastic yarn of the type which has just been described. The elasticyarns are knit and may be stretched, and in Figur 2 the fabric is shownstretched or expanded to the point where the stitches of elastic yarnl!) are as large as the stitches of the inelastic textile wrap yarn 20,which is the size of these stitches when drawn by the needles of theknitting machine making the same.

In the knitting of the top 9, the unornamented section II is knit of theusual textile body yarn of a certain diameter or denier, by feeding thesame to the needles of a circular knitting machine and then when thesection l2 starts, the body yarn is changed to a suitable elastic yarnunder tension, as will be explained, and this is knitted on the needlesalong with the usual textile wrap yarns, the latter selectively, to formthe ornamented section l2, then to form the section 13, the elastic yarnis changed and the usual textile body yarn is again knitted on theneedles of the machine. It is customary to keep the textile yarns undera certain amount of tension for good knitting, but the tension on theelastic yarn is governed by other considerations, as will be explained.It will be noted that the sections ll, [2 and I3, except for the garterarea in the latter, are of substantially the same diameter, thisdiameter being that usually obtained by the knitting of the usualtextile body yarn upon any given size machine, thus so far as thediameter of the sections II and I3 of the top is concerned, it isnormal, however to provide that the section I2 also have substantiallythis diameter certain steps are necessary. An elastic yarn is knit undertension adjusted so that when the elastic stitches come off the machineneedles and contract, the diameter of the elastic fabric is the same asthe diameter of the textile fabric. Usually as much tension as possibleis taken off the elastic yarn as the needle drawing action alone inknitting is suillcient to provide enough tension on the elastic yarn tocause the stitches of the same to contract when they are cast off theneedles and become part of the fabric. The denier of the elastic yarnmaybe from one and one-half to five times the denier of the textile yarnused and the amount of tension to be used on the elastic yarn will varywith the denier, the gauge of the machine, whether the machine is rib orplain, as well as with the particular commercial type of machine. Withthese variable factors involved, the knitter need only adjust thetension, more or'less, on the elastic yarn until the fabric coming offthe machine has the desired diameter. In the case of a Fidelity rib wrapmachine of thirty-six gage an elastic yarn with a denier of about threetimes the denier of the textile yarn and fed under as light a tension aspossible, has given good results.

The elastic yarn in the completed stitches is still under a certainamount of tension and this causes the yarn to be formed into very tightclose compact stitches in each of which the parts of the knitted loopsare as close to ether as possible and the stitches themselves in eachwale and course are likewise drawn very close to each other. This is incontrast to a textile yarn fabric in which the yarn is not under tensionand in which the stitches are relatively open with spaces between theparts of the knitted loops and between the wales and the courses. Theknitted stitch of a textile yarn is generally longer, in a walewisedirection, than it is broad due to the drawing of the loop by theneedle, but in the case of the knitted stitch of an elastic yarn undertension in the stitch this is not true as the elastic yarn contracts,the contraction being greater walewise than coursewise. It is becausethe completed stitches of the elastic yarn are smaller or tighter thanthe completed stitches of the textile yarn that the larger diameterelastic yarn is required to give the same diameter in the finishedelastic fabric as is present in the textile yarn knitted fabric, howeversince the stitches of the elasticyarn contract more walewise than theydo coursewise, the resultant elastic yarn fabric while having the samediameter as the textile fabric will be somewhat shorter than the same ina walewise direction.

Those textile wrap yarn stitches which have been drawn with the elasticyarn stitches are of a normal size and remain so after the elastic yarnstitches have contracted with the result that the wrap yarn stitchesextend upwardly away from the face of the base fabric as a distinctlyraised ornamentation as clearly appears in the drawing.

In the Figure 2 the body elastic yarn I9 has been shown stretched toshow the wrap yarn and the body loops of equal size as they are drawn bythe needles. In Figure 4 the elastic fabric has been shown partiallycontracted and the loops of wrap yarn 20 are shown as being larger thanthe loops of the yarn I9 and as extending outwardly from the face of thefabric. The reason for showing the elastic partially contracted in thisview is that the stitch diagram is thus plainly visible while stillillustrating the invention clearly. The Figure shows the fabric insection with the elastic almost fully contracted and from this view itis likewise apparent how the larger wrap stitches stand out as raisedornamentation.

The Figure 3 is similar to Figure 2 except that it shows the inventionas applied to a plain knit fabric in which all the wales 22, 23, and 24are drawn in the same direction. It is obvious that the invention isequally applicable to plain fabric as well as to rib fabric. The elasticyarn is shown at 25 and the wrap yarn at 25. The Figure 6 is a crosssection of the plain fabric and illustrates how the stitches of the wrapram 26, which are larger than the contracted stitches of the tensionedelastic yarn 25, extends upwardly from the face of the base fabric asraised ornamentation.

In the top '8 the section I2 is shown as ornamented with the sections IIand I3 plain and knitted of textile yarns. If it should be desired tohave the entire top ornamented with a design of the raised wrapstitches, then the base fabric for the entire top would be knit of theelastic yarn. In other words, the elastic yam need only be used in thatarea of the fabric where the raised ornamentation is desired. Or thearea I2 may have the raised wrap ornamentation described, while eitherone or both of the sections II and I3 may have the usual type of wrapthread ornamentation on a base of textile yarn.

It will be noted that the section I2 is of elastic yarn under a certainamount of tension and thus has a garter effect in itself to a certaindegree. This section of knitted elastic yarn may be stretched in twodirections, walewise and coursewise, and due to the presence of thewalewise extending textile wrap threads, the stretch in a walewisedirection is limited and controlled by the extent to which the limitedlength of the wrap yarns will permit the fabric to stretch.

It will be obvious that the invention is not limited to tubular fabricsand is equally applicable to flat knit fabrics which are wrapornamented. In the application of the invention to flat knit fabrics itis only necessary that the sections knit of textile yarns havesubstantially the same width as the sections knit of elastic yarns, withthe stitches of elastic yarn under tension and contracted. Thecontracted elastic stitches will, as explained, cause the correspondingplated wrap stitches to extend upwardly from the face of the fabric toform a raised design.

We claim: 4

l. A knitted fabric comprising a base of wales and courses knit of anelastic textile body yarn under tension and selectively knitwalewise/extending non elastic textile wrap yarns, the wrap yarnstitches being larger than the body yarn stitches and extending upwardlyfrom the face of the fabric to form a raised design,

2. The method of knitting raised wrap designs on a base fabric includingthe step of feeding an elastic textile body yarn under tension to aseries of needles and of feeding walewise extending non elastic textilewrap yarns to selected needles, the step of drawing equal lengthstitches of body and of wrap yarns on said needles and the step ofcasting off said stitches, the cast off elastic stitches contracting insize.

3. A tubular knitted fabric comprising wales and courses knit of anelastic textile body yarn under tension and of walewise extending nonelastic textile wrap yarns selectively plated thereon, the wrap yarnstitches being larger than the body yarn stitches and extending upwardlyfrom the face of the fabric to form a raised design.

4. A tubular rib knitted fabric comprising inside rib and outside plainwales knit of an elastic textile body yam under tension and of walewiseextending non elastic textile wrap yarns individual to the outside plainwales and selectively plated thereon, the body yarn stitches undertension being contracted in size and forcing the rela tively larger andlooser wrap yarn stitches upwardly from the face of the fabric to form araised design. a

5. A tubular rib knitted fabric comprising inside rib and outside plainwales knit of an elastic textile body yarn under tension and of walewiseextending non elastic textile wrap yarns individual to the outside plainwales andvselectively plated thereon, th wrap yarn stitches being largerthan the body yarn stitches and extending upwardly from the face of thefabric to form a raised design. l

6. A tubular rib knitted fabric comprising inside rib and outside plainwales knit of an elastic textile body yarn and of walewise extending nonelastic textile wrap yarns individual to the outside plain wales andselectively plated thereon.

7. A tubular rib knitted fabric comprising inside rib and outside plainwales knit of an elastic textile body yarn under tension and of walewiseextending non elastic textile wrap yarns individual to the outside plainwales and selectively I plated thereon, the body stitches beingcontracted

